HEALTHBEAT

Kelly Massicot

Fit NOLA, an initiative created by Mayor Landrieu, is coming to a phone app near you. The app will bring New Orleanians and those visiting the city personalized nutritional guidance from Ochsner Health System’s Eat Fit NOLA initiative. Fit NOLA will also have information from a multitude of local health and fitness initiatives and more than 200 Fit NOLA coalition member organizations. When you download the app, from either iTunes or Google Play stores, you’ll be instantly matched with food items from more than 100 local restaurants approved through the Eat Fit NOLA’s pre-designed parameters that will match to your personal nutrition preferences. Mayor Landrieu said in a statement about Fit NOLA, “This groundbreaking app will continue the work the city is doing to build a culture of health. As we approach our 300th anniversary in 2018, our commitment to healthy lifestyles across our community will be a model for the rest of the country.” More details can be found on fit.nola.gov.

LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine’s Professor and Chair of Psychiatry Howard Osofsky M.D. Ph.D., has been asked to co-direct the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) Terrorism and Disaster Committee. The Terrorism and Disaster Program of the NCTSN “works to promote the behavioral health of children and families by strengthening our nation’s response capacities before, during and after acts of terrorism, disasters and mass violence.” With acts of terrorism and violence escalating around the world, Osofsky has been asked to claim this role for the second time. For years, Osofsky has worked to develop psychosocial prepardeness programs for first responders and mental health professionals to improve responses following disasters and terrorism. Osofsky’s work in the city after Hurricane Katrina, as well as his help consulting and providing training in New York following 9/11 will aid in the NCTSN’s goal to help our community.

On Dec. 3, the Senate voted 52-47 to repeal “large portions” of the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood. The “symbolic” vote, which makes good on all GOP promises to voters, was passed with full knowledge the President Obama would veto it and that the proponents lacked the two-thirds majority to override it. Congress has actually held multiple votes to repeal parts of the health care law, but this was the first seen by the president after the House is expected to pass the legislation. According to the Los Angeles Times, the bill will repeal the ACA’s individual and employer mandates, as well as “do away with a long list of taxes imposed on wealthy individuals, pricey ‘Cadillac’ insurance plans and health-related industries that help pay to cover the uninsured.”